Love can't be muted
by TheTrueDivergent
Summary: I knew that this wasn't something that I could sign to her. I knew that I needed her to hear this, directly from my lips to her ears. "I think I love you." Modern/AU. (Disclaimer: I don't own the book or the image)


**A/N: I had a poll on my profile page, and this idea was one of the options. Since most of those who voted liked this idea, I'm going to be starting it.** **I've received lots of feedback from some awesome people (you know who you are) and I'm going to be trying out some of their suggestions that will hopefully make this story more interesting for you lovely readers. Hope you guys enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer for the rest of the story: I don't own Divergent.**

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Love can't be muted

Chapter 1: Her

I bump my head against my locker, not able to take my eyes off of _her_. Ever since she's come to this school, she's made it difficult for me to focus, to concentrate on anything, _anything_ I tell you. Why? Because she's breathtaking. Beautiful and ethereal. There are too few words in the English dictionary to describe how amazing she looks. My mind simply cannot function when she's in the same room as me.

I am broken from my reverie when I am slapped on the back. Hard.

"Four!" Zeke, one of my closest friends, yells, right next to my ear.

My head whips towards his direction, eyes narrowed towards him, showing my frustration for the unnecessary yelling. He smirks in response.

"Hey, are you okay, man? You seem to be a bit lost." He says.

I place my hand on my heart, feigning surprise. "Wow, Zeke, did I really just hear that you actually _care_ about me?" He rolls his eyes playfully, still wearing a smile.

"Seriously, dude, are..." his voice fades out into the background when I see her walking in our direction. She's smiling and nodding along with some of her friends who are walking with her, her hair cascading down her back and bouncing a bit as she walks. When she smiles, I can see her pearly white teeth. _Gorgeous._

Zeke slaps me on the back again, multiple times, as if he's excited. I groan. "Dude! Now I understand why you were staring. Check out _that_ girl!" he whispers and points toward a brunette in a surreptitious way. The girl seems to be in our grade and is walking alongside her _._ But the girl Zeke pointed out looks nothing compared to her. _Her_ body is petite and small, yet somehow seems to fit her perfectly.

I nod along to Zeke's comment, not wanting him to know who I was really staring at. If he does find out, shit will go down. "But... who's that girl who she's walking with?" I ask, wanting to seem discreet yet still straining my neck to see them round the corner of the hallway.

"Oh, the new girl?" I nod. "Her name is Tris. Apparently she's mute." He says, then shakes his head in distaste. "We shouldn't talk to her."

I'm about to ask him why, but then I realize what socializing with them would do to us.

"Hey Four!" I hear an all too familiar voice of my girlfriend, Nita. She runs her pointer finger down the length of my arm, as if trying to seduce me. I have no feelings for Nita, but the only reason that we are together is because everyone in our group thinks that we look great together. In reality, she drives me nuts. We've been dating for a year now, and I still know nothing about her, other than the fact that she's super possessive and can be annoying as hell.

"Hey babe," I say, giving her a quick kiss on the lips, knowing that Zeke is watching. Even though he's my best friend, I wouldn't want to disappoint him, let alone the entire school.

"So, I was wondering-" she begins, but is cut off by the bell.

"Sorry, Nita, I gotta get to class." I say, pretending to hurry, and flee the scene immediately. _Saved by the bell._

Sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever be able to experience a true love. Sure, I'm only a senior in high school and my whole life is ahead of me, but I've seen the effects. And though it may have bad side-effects, I know that it can be empowering. Dad loved Mom more than anything in the world. It was fascinating to watch. And when she died, he cried for days. I had never seen him cry until that day. Although I'm afraid that I might become simply a sidekick to the power that is love, I know that by dating Nita, I will never even get to that stage.

I enter the classroom and take my seat. I see another blonde girl, someone who I don't know, sit next to me, and I go back to fantasizing about that girl, who had the same hair color. What was her name again? Trish? No, it was... Tris.

She only got here yesterday, but she seemed to fit in right away. She became friends with that girl that Will likes... was it Christina? She grabbed my attention immediately. I keep telling myself that it's just a simple crush, but I've never had a crush on anybody, so this _has_ to be something.

Right?

The teacher rises from her seat and clasps her hands just as the bell rings. "We have a new student today," she signs. "Please welcome Tris to our class." Wow. I was so busy dreaming about her that I didn't even realize that she had entered the room.

"Hello, Tris," the class signs to her, and she gives us a shy smile. I, however, sit there in shock, thinking about the wonderful odds that she got to be in my sign language class.

My friends always wondered why I took sign language instead of any other conventional language provided by the school, like Spanish or French. My mom and I used to volunteer at homeless shelters, and most of the people there either didn't hear or couldn't speak, so I was able to pick up on some sign language that way. I give everyone who asks that reason. But in truth, I think the main reason that I took the class is because when we sign, sometimes we can say things that we wouldn't really say. It makes us brave, it gives us another way to express our emotions and feelings.

"Tris," the teacher signs again. "Why don't you tell the class some things about yourself?"

Tris blushes, as if embarrassed, then proceeds to sign quite rapidly. "Hi. My name is Tris. I moved here from California. I'm mute, so I can't talk, meaning that I use sign language as my main form of communication. It's great that this school provides a class that teaches sign language, you don't get that a lot anymore."

I stare at her in shock; I can barely catch on to what she's signing. I guess it's an AP Language class for a reason.

The rest of the class is probably feeling the same way, because she watches our expressions, then blushes furiously, tinting her cheeks a deep shade of red. I inwardly smile at her shyness. And she looks _adorable_ when she's blushing.

God, what is _with_ me?

"Sorry if I was going too fast." She says, signing much slower this time. Then she quickly takes a seat in the corner of the classroom, still blushing.

"Okay, class." the teacher signs again. "We're doing another exercise today. Partner up." She grabs the worksheets while the rest of the class scrambles to find a partner and not be left behind without one.

I glance over at Tris. She's looking around as people slowly form partnerships, worry etched on her face. I shoo off the numerous people who try to be partners with me and decide to take this opportunity to have a conversation with her. I shake out my hands, feeling the nerves for this encounter all over my body. If anyone knew that the almighty Four was nervous over a girl he just met, they would laugh and say that that's impossible.

And yet, here we are.

Before I can change my mind, I'm walking towards her.

She seems surprised to see me in front of her desk, waiting for her to notice me. She glances up at me with curious eyes as her eyebrow's turn into a slight frown. I just want to kiss it away, tell her that everything will be fine and not to worry. Then I realize that I haven't even introduced myself.

"Hi." I sign, hoping that I'm doing it correctly, even though it's a simple sign that I've learned years ago. "Do you already have a partner?" She shakes her head, stares at me for a second with those blue/grey eyes that make her even more special, then motions for me to sit next to her. The teacher hands the packets to us.

It's a get-to-know you activity, I realize. Normally, I would roll my eyes at these activities, not understanding the point of them, but now I know that this will be a great opportunity to get to know Tris.

Man, luck is on my side today.

"So your name's Tris?" I sign to her, not wanting her to know that I already know who she is. She nods and I fill in the question on the paper.

"My name is Four." I sign again, so that she can fill out the question, but she rolls her eyes as if to say: _I know._ And I wouldn't be surprised if she did.

We sign the questions to each other, me a bit slower than her. And for once, I'm finally productive, because we are the first group to finish. I signed to whole thing, too, without saying anything with my mouth. Normally for such activities, me and my friends screw around the entire time, so I feel proud of what I've done today.

I got to learn new things about her, too. For example, her favorite ice-cream flavor is mint chocolate chip, her favorite color is dark blue, and that she wants to be a writer when she grows up. She's really interesting and admirable; as more and more time passes, there only seems to be good things that I can add to the list of things that I notice about her. I, on the other hand, answered the same questions with: all ice-cream flavors as long as it's ice-cream, black, and I don't know.

She'll never like me.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's no way I can date her, not without losing my reputation. Will I really be willing to do that for her?

Of course not. I've only known her for a few hours.

But there's a voice nagging in the back of my mind, telling me that there's something about this girl that I won't find anywhere else.

I shake my head as the bell rings, ignoring such impossible thoughts, and start walking to the cafeteria. I nod in acknowledgment to my fellow classmates that pass me, get a slap on the back by my teammates and give one in return, and finally, get a kiss from Nita. We sit at our table of jocks, me in the middle surrounded by friends and other people that I don't bother in knowing.

Then I see her again.

She put her hair into a bun, almost abnegation like, and is waiting patiently in the food line. I scan her outfit rather than looking at the features on her face this time. She's wearing a baggy grey sweatshirt and black leggings, paired up with some grey converse. She manages to make such a simple outfit look amazing.

"Four!" I hear, and I turn my head back in the direction of the voice. Nita, of course.

"Four! I heard that you were sitting with that disabled girl, what's her name again?" Nita says.

"Tris," Lauren, another 'popular' girl, who I only know because she's in my PE class, supplies.

"Right!" Nita says, regaining her train of thought. "Why would you hang out with her?" Nita says, making a face as if she ate something disgusting. If she's trying to grab my attention, it's not working. Her expression is making her look... well, making her look even worse than before. And that's saying _a lot_.

"I only did it because she was alone." I say trying to dismiss the conversation with a wave of my hand.

"Ooh! Four getting it on with the new girl!" Zeke whispers in my ear, having just joined the conversation. Great. Now I have to deal with Zeke talking about it non stop.

Just when I'm about to contradict this statement, a long bang goes off in the cafeteria. All heads whip in that direction, mine included. I'm shocked by what I see.

Tris stands, mouth agape, glancing down at her outfit. The macaroni and cheese that was in her tray now resides on her sweatshirt and in her hair. I have a sudden urge to go help her and forget everything about school hierarchy. But I am beaten to the job when I see a chubby boy helping Tris. Gratefulness is evident on her face.

But I feel rage.

I should have been the one to help her, not that boy. Man, what's with the emotions today?

Everyone resumes their previous conversations, but I remain looking at her and the boy. He gestures for her to sit at his table, and she smile politely and does just that, sitting with those girls from earlier. Then she takes of her sweatshirt, a gross mien on her face. The shirt that she's wearing under is a black short sleeved shirt that hugs her in all the right places. Damn, if I thought that she was good looking before, then now she would be...

An angel.

"Dude! You are _so_ whipped!" Zeke whispers loudly in my ear yet again. I'm glad he understands that I don't want anyone else to know about my crush, but I can't help but feel a little sad that he found out. But I can't help it. I'm drawn to her whenever she's in the room, like a magnet. Maybe it's because opposites attract, because we are opposites for sure.

I just roll my eyes again, not wanting to deal with him right now, and eat my lunch in silence, thinking about _her._

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Zeke, Uri and I have a free period followed by football practice. And being the idiots that they are, Zeke and Uriah decided that we should play football instead of finishing our homework. And, of course, I was dragged along as well.

We are currently tossing around the football on the field, talking about our next game. I nearly fumble the ball when I see her.

She's sitting on the bleachers, completely oblivious to us. She's hunched over something, presumably her homework, and has her headphones plugged in, listening to music.

I am snapped out of my thoughts when I get hit with the football in the stomach. Hard.

Trying to get her attention, I moan loudly, then collapse on the field dramatically, laying on my back. I want her to know that I can be a funny person. And with the help of the Pedrad brothers, that should be no trouble at all.

Zeke gasps theatrically and kneels in front of me. "FOUR! FOUR!" He yells, shaking my arm and playing along. I resist the urge to laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Tris glancing in our direction as she slowly takes off her earbuds. I'm glad she heard us, although even people on Jupiter could have probably heard Zeke, given how loud he was yelling.

Uriah joins me on the other side. "I will avenge you my dear brother." He says, patting me on the shoulder.

"Hey! I thought _I_ was your brother!" Zeke accuses. I roll my eyes. This will take forever.

"Unfortunately," Uriah mumbles under his breath. It must have been too loud, though, because Zeke inhales sharply, hearing the comment.

"Oh, it's on," And before I know it, I'm still lying on the ground while Zeke and Uriah play a game of tag around me.

I turn my head slowly and discreetly, so that I'm facing Tris. Her hand covers her mouth, supposedly to stop herself from laughing so much, and I can see her eyes forming almond shapes as she laughs. And even from here, many feet below where she is sitting, I can see her beautiful features.

That's when that this is more than just a crush. I realize that I _really_ like her.

I already have a girlfriend, but I don't feel anything towards her. I only feel for Tris. And I never offer to help someone, _ever._ That's just who I am, what society makes me. I'm sure I could have found another person to complete the activity in my sign language class that us populars would approve of, but I chose her. I even made a fool of myself with the idiot brothers for her.

She makes me do things that I would never do on a normal day without even knowing it. And I _know_ that there is something special about her, something that doesn't make her a disabled person, rather, it makes her someone with different abilities. I know I have to be with her, for my own sanity.

And I know just where to start.

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 **A/N: Another quick note for the story: Tobias isn't abused, and Evelyn is actually dead.**

 **This is a pilot chapter, so to speak, and if you guys like this idea then I will continue it. My first priority is my other story, though, so I will continue this after I finish that story.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


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